Is baptism required in what we must do to be saved?

In your explanation of what is required of us in order to be saved, you seem to insist upon baptizing. But, to my knowledge, none of the twelve were baptized. Would you say that they were not saved?

Answer

No, I would not say that the apostles were not saved.

You and I both know that one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, was not saved — he hanged himself.

Christ Jesus stated:

Mark 16:16 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (KJV)

Mr. Hunt did not state that; I did not make that rule; the Son of God stated it.

Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, stated:

1 Pet 3:21 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (KJV)

And Peter was guided into all truth, as promised by Christ Jesus speaking to His Apostles:

John 16:13 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (KJV)

You know that one of the Apostles, howbeit not one of the twelve, Paul, formerly called Saul, was baptized, for Luke records, speaking of Saul’s conversion:

Acts 22:16 16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (KJV)

And this scripture also points out an important fact about baptism. It is necessary to wash away our sins. What is it that will condemn us in the judgment day? Our sin. We have a problem, and we need to solve it; we need to have our sin washed away. And we do that in baptism.

You know that we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ Jesus upon the cross.

Paul explains how we “connect” to that atoning blood:

Rom 6:3-5 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (KJV)

And we could look at many many other passages, but I think these few that we have seen are adequate to establish the truth in Christ Jesus’ statement in Mark 16:16 (as if He needed our help to support His statement!).

Now that we know that baptism is necessary for salvation, let’s look at “But, to my knowledge, none of the twelve were baptized.”

There are a lot of things that happend in Christ Jesus’ life that we don’t know about:

John 20:30-31 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (KJV)

Look at the descriptions of Paul’s missionary journeys in Acts. Luke left out a lot of detail. He recorded what we need to know to understand what the Holy Spirit wants us to understand, but left out the “small stuff”.

God told His people that there are certain things not revealed, that we don’t need to know about or worry about:

Deut 29:29 29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (KJV)

And Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit explained that God has revealed everything that we need to know:

2 Tim 3:16-17 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (KJV)

Note here that it doesn’t matter what I think about baptism, it doesn’t matter what Gary Hunt thinks about baptism, and it doesn’t matter what Charlie Armstrong thinks about baptism. What matters most is what God and His Son Christ Jesus think about baptism. And how are we going to know what God and Christ think on the subject? By reading and studying His revealed will, His Holy Scriptures.

That is why, in the discussion presented above, I have not given you a lot of “I think this or that”, but plain passages from the Holy Scriptures — that we both “may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

I am confident that the Apostles were baptized for the remission of their sins; to have their sins washed away. And I am confident that most of them were saved.

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